SE512214C2 - Production plant for mobile phone antennae, uses pulse driven electric motor comprising electromagnet stator and permanent magnet rotor to transport pallets of components between work stations - Google Patents

Abstract

The conveyor for transporting pallets (100) loaded with work pieces between different work and assembly stations (1-8) comprises a brushless, circular, ring-shaped electric motor (101) containing an electromagnet stator (103) and a permanent magnet rotor (102). The motor is pulse-driven in order to index the rotor and provide it with a good rotation position accuracy.

Description

Embodiments of the invention are set out in the appended dependent claims. In the plant according to the invention, a circular circumferential conveyor is used which carries a number of fixtures / pallets for a plurality of articles. The conveyor indexes these fixtures in unison along the circumference of the conveyor.

According to an important feature of the invention, a brushless annular electric motor is used as a basis for the conveyor. The stator of the electric motor is an electromagnet, while its rotor is a permanent magnet. Such electric motors are commercially available in diameters up to several meters, and can be built with even larger diameters. They can be pulse driven, and have an angular precision of about 1 arc second. Furthermore, they offer high holding forces.

The fixtures / pallets are drive-connected to the rotor and are suitably guided on a rail concentric with the rotor which gives the pallets a high bearing capacity and control accuracy. This means that the pawls / fixtures have a very high bearing capacity, stability and steering accuracy. Furthermore, an accurate position can be given along the circumference of the conveyor.

You can therefore place a number of manufacturing stations / handling stations around the perimeter of the conveyor. For the manufacture of mobile telephone antennas, a number of stations can be established around the conveyor, at which components are manufactured and mounted. In a first station, starting from a metal strip, this can be punched into elements which are formed into a sleeve for an antenna coil. Furthermore, this spool sleeve can be inserted into a fixture which is carried by the conveyor and which receives several such sleeves.

A second station along the circumference of the conveyor comprises a machine which manufactures an antenna coil from wood material, wherein an assembly machine mounts the manufactured coils on the sleeves which are transported on a fixture from the first station. 1h '10 15 20 25 30 512 214 In a third subsequent station, the coil can be tested. In a fourth subsequent station, plastic can be sprayed on the coil and its sleeve, to form a fixed antenna. This antenna can then be transported out of the fourth station for automatic packaging of antennas for distribution packaging.

If instead the antenna in question is to be of the type which has a extendable rod, then in a fifth station, which follows the fourth station circumferentially, a number of rods can be manufactured from wire material which is inserted into a fixture / pallet .

In a sixth subsequent station, the plastic-sprayed spool and sleeve can be mounted on the rod and, in addition, a pull-out stop member can be made in the sixth station and mounted on the end of the rod to prevent the rod from being pulled out of the sleeve.

In a seventh subsequent station, the stopper can be attached to the rod by being pressed.

In an eighth subsequent workstation, the completed antennas with extendable rod can then be removed and packaged in a packaging machine for distribution to end users.

The invention will be described in the following in an exemplary form with reference to the accompanying drawing.

Figure 1 schematically shows a perspective overview of a plant according to the invention.

The plant comprises a circular circumferential conveyor 101 comprising a brushless annular electric motor 101, which includes a stator 103 in the form of an electromagnet, and a rotor 102 consisting of a permanent magnet. The rotor carries a number of pawls 100 which are in angularly spaced positions around the motor 101. Furthermore, around the motor 101 there are a number of workstations 1 to 8 in mutually equally spaced angular positions, where the angular separation of the stations corresponds to the angular separation of the pallets 100.

By pulse driving the motor 101, the pallets 1 can be fed to positions which have an angular precision of approximately 1 arc second. Furthermore, the pallets can be guided on one or more rails concentric with the rotor, which gives the pallets a high bearing capacity and steering accuracy.

In the first station 1 there is a supply 10 of strip material 11 which is fed into a punching machine 12 to form sleeves 13, which are transferred by a robot 14 to a pallet 100 when this is located in the station 1.

In station 2 there are a number of machines 21, which on the basis of wire material produce helical coils 24. A robot 23 picks up a set of such coils and mounts them on the sleeves 13, which are mounted on the fixture 100 in the previous station. A machine 25 can fix the coils 24 on the sleeves 13.

In station 3 there is a robot 31 which picks up sets of sleeves with coils and temporarily transfers them to a testing machine 32, which checks the properties of the coils, after which the robot 31 returns approved products to the pallets 100. In station 4 sleeves with coils from the pallets 100 and are spray-sprayed with plastic in the machine 41. If the production refers to "fixed" antennas, the antennas are thus ready and can be taken out of the machine 41 with a robot 43 and placed on trays, after which the trays are packaged in a packaging machine 45. 4.3 10 15 20 25 30 512 214 In case the product 42 is to be further provided with an antenna rod (52, station 5), the plastic ring-sprayed sleeve with the spool is returned to the pallets 100 in station 4, after which the pallet is transported on to station 5. There is a machine 51 which produces wire blanks from wire material which is inserted with a feeding device 54 into a spraying machine 53, which finalizes the blanks into antenna rod 52, whereby a robot mounts spr ö- to 52 on the pallet.

In station 6, end stop 62 for the rod S2 is manufactured with a punching machine 63 starting from strip material 61. These end stops 62 are mounted on the end of the rod 52 after the product 42 has been mounted on the rod 52. The pull-out antenna thus assembled is transported on the pallet to 7 where the stopper 62 is pressed onto the end of the antenna rod and tested. The antenna with extendable rod is thus completed, and is transported on the pallet to the station 8, where the antennas are removed and placed on trays 81 which are then packed in a packaging machine 82 for distribution to the assembly site.

In the center area of the engine 101, a spraying machine 9 is shown for spraying plastic washers, on which finished antennas can be carried.

An advantage of the facility is its flexibility. To change the antenna model, you can, possibly with suitable special devices, easily change the stem tool and sprayer tool. The robot 14 can replace the fixing pins 15.

The robot 44 replaces non-approved antennas with approved antennas from a storage room. Robot 83 replaces non-approved antennas extendable antennas with approved antennas from storage.

Claims (5)

10 15 20 25 30 35 512 .314 P a t e n t k r a v A plant for the production of antenna for mobile telephones, comprising a circumferential conveyor (101) carrying with equal division pallets (100) for carrying a set of workpieces, a number of work and assembly stations (1- 8) are arranged along the conveyor with a pitch corresponding to the pitch of the pallets (100), and the conveyor synchronously indexes the pallets to respective successive workstations, characterized in that the conveyor has the shape of a brushless circular annular electric motor (101) containing a stator (103) in the form of an electromagnet, and a rotor (102) in the form of a permanent magnet, the drive means being arranged to pulse drive the motor to index the rotor and give it a good rotational positioning accuracy. Plant according to Claim 1, characterized in that the pallets have a carrier connection to the rotor (102) and in that the pallets (100) are guided on at least one rail concentric with the rotor. Plant according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a first station comprises a device (12) for making spool sleeves (13) from strip material, and a robot (14) for inserting a set of sleeves into a pallet (100) in the station (1), a subsequent second station comprising a device (21) for manufacturing helical antenna coils (24), and a device (23) for mounting the coils (24) on sleeves (13) in a pallet (100), wherein a connecting device (25) is arranged to fix the coils (24) on the sleeves (13), a third station (3) at which the coils are tested as mounted on the sleeves, and a fourth station (4) where they tested coils as mounted on the sleeves are embedded in plastic in a plastic syringe. .ll .U 10 15 20 512 27214 Plant according to Claim 3, characterized in that the plastic-sprayed spool sleeves are arranged to be transferred by a robot (43) to a packaging machine (45). Plant according to claim 3, characterized in that the tubular antennas produced in station 4 are transported to a station (5) at which antenna rods (52) are manufactured and mounted on the pallet (100), a sixth station (6) where the tubular antenna - the antenna (42) from the station (4) is mounted on the rod, a machine (61-64) making extraction stops (62) and mounting them on the end of the antenna rod (52) mounted through the tubular antenna part (42). ), a seventh station 7 comprising a machine (71) arranged to press the stopper (62) onto the end of the rod (52) and test the attachment of the syringe end, and an eighth station 8, at which they in the seventh station (7) completed antennas with extendable rod are removed from a take-off device and packed in a packing device (82).